


The Master Plan

by butterflycollective



Category: General Hospital (TV 1963)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Intrigue, Soap Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27554470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycollective/pseuds/butterflycollective
Summary: Derek Wells moved to Pt. Charles to become a media mogul but with whispers of his past was he what he seemed?
Relationships: Alexis Davis/Julian Jerome
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Borrowing the characters to write for fun

Julian Jerome walked up to the woman in the red dress. Only he had to check himself and remember that he wasn't Julian. He was Derek Wells, media mogul who had spent the last 20 years carving himself out an impressive empire in a highly competitive industry.

The woman stood before him. Her face tilted, with her ice cold blonde curls tossed off her face. She smirked at him in a way that'd become familiar. It was her most worn expression since they'd first met years ago. His own lips curved into a smile.

"Hello Ava.

The woman's eyes danced in anticipation.

"Hello…Julian."

They stood in his office, ground zero of his empire on the penthouse suite on the top floor of the Metro Court, a five star hotel in the familiar haunt of Pt. Charles. That's where Julian…Derek to most had picked up the reins of a dying newspaper left behind by its previous owner who had fled in the night. His name, unable to be whispered on the lips of anyone in this town without harsh consequences. Julian didn't care. He had plans to shut down the newspaper due to poor sales, and its sister publication, Crimson, some silly fashion rag a decade behind the times.

He had bigger plans after all.

Ava sighed as she appraised him, her eyes running over him in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable, for the chemistry between them was not natural.

"You look awfully good for a dead man. Come give you baby sister a hug…"

He hedged. There in front of him stood the spitting image, albeit a younger model of his late sister Olivia. The resemblance was uncanny, it was the only trait that Ava had that convinced him years ago when they first met, that they shared the same bloodlines, going back to Victor Jerome.

Julian moved to hug his baby sister, and assured her that reports of his passing had, naturally been exaggerated.

Ava clucked her tongue, preparing herself for the latest sob story from her older brother. But she noted the happiness in him, his relaxed carriage, and the lilt in his step as he went to refresh his glass of more bourbon. She needed him after all to get her due, her birthright as a Jerome that had been denied her for years due to a twist of fate.

He handed her a glass of scotch.

"Of course I'm happy…"

Everyone in Pt. Charles most importantly the police department and district attorney's office believed him and the rest of his family to be deceased, their corpses rotting away in a family plot somewhere in New Jersey.

Ava quickly cut to the chase.

"I did my part dear brother. You might think I erred in my plan for ELQ but it's nothing but a setback. We will get those shares."

She'd told Julian of her travails since first coming to Pt. Charles some months ago to being translating their carefully tailored plan into action. Julian just arched a brow.

"Look who's whining now."

She rolled her eyes.

"You don't know what it's been like dealing with Scott Baldwin, protesting that I knew you, dealing with the likes of Franco…you know he nearly derailed my plot…"

Julian interrupted.

"I know that part. If not for Shawn Butler trying to take him out and hitting one of Sonny's molls instead…"

Ava smirked.

"They'll never trace that back to me. You know Sonny Corinthoes came so close to taking out Franco…but he was rescued at the last minute by that Alexis Davis, Sonny's own lawyer. She dragged him to the hospital where I was able to do damage control…"

Julian sighed after sipping his bourbon.

"I should have taken him out when I had the chance…"

Ava purred.

"Oh come on Julian. He's but a pesky nuisance, the father of my daughter. Besides you should concern yourself with selling yourself as Derek Wells, law abiding citizen while Julian Jerome hides in plain sight."

He knew that already and he'd concocted the perfect plan. It'd go off without a hitch if he stuck to carrying it out step by carefully deliberated step. And part of that meant controlling Ava and her own impulsive nature.

"What happened to your plan to hook up with Franco and steal ELQ:"

Ava paused, taking a gulp of her scotch for fortitude no doubt. She had failed dismally and knew it.

"The thing with Franco went South."

That hardly surprised Julian though he detected more than a hint of defensiveness in Ava, as her eyes avoided his own, focusing on the wall instead. She'd gone soft on her daughter, Kiki and both knew it.

"Please what do you know about being a parent?"

That stopped Julian in his tracks. He couldn't answer that. Fatherhood had no place in the existence he'd carved for himself. Ava had proven to be a poor role model for her own wayward daughter.

"Well you let Kiki do pretty much what she wanted and now you're reaping what you sowed."

Ava crouched lower, while sidestepping around the office, glaring at him.

"I was a single mother. I did the very best I could. It's not as if you ever lifted a finger to help me."

Julian leaned back in his chair.

"Don't be stupid. It would have been danger to us all."

She leaned closer to him over his desk, taunting him. She had a habit of doing that while on the defensive about her choices, something about her getting a foot in the door and playing nice.

"You need me brother…."

He pursed his lips, seeing the naked desperation in her eyes sheathed with her familiar armor of ruthlessness. Ava was like one of those snakes, you picked up only when you had thick gloves and a hooked stick.

Julian never forgot that.

"I'm essential to your plan to take on Sonny Corinthoes…"

She turned the photo of the mob kingpin cozying up to Connie Falconeri who worked as for Julian now. The willowy blonde managed Crimson but he'd cut her a deal that in order to save her magazine, he had to deliver a front page story for the daily news rag. She hadn't called him back yet.

"The territory that used to be mine."

Ava snarled.

"Ours…"

He acquiesced for now.

"Of course…"

She slithered around his desk, and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"We're going to get rid of Sonny Corinthos, reclaim our territory and take back all the power the Jeromes used to hold in Pt. Charles."

Ava outlined everything she had accomplished in her part of the list of things to accomplish as part of the master plan. Kiki was engaged to marry Sonny's youngest son Morgan. A match made possible thanks to the Jerome gambling ring.

She folded her arms.

"I've done my part of our plan. I'm still working on ELQ and my own daughter is taking one for the team but what about you? What are you doing?"

Julian sighed.

"Carlos has done the retcon on all the players in Sonny's organization. His molls, his children, his employees, he's been quite thorough on producing dossiers on all of them."

Ava clucked her tongue.

"All of them. Well, Julian now all we have to do is divide and conquer. I've set my sights on Morgan Corinthos as my entry of attack. I know you're quite a charmer with the ladies so who among Sonny's harem will be your target?"

Julian looked nonplussed. He hadn't decided yet, actually he'd been putting that part of the operation off. He had perused the exhaustive research provided to him by Carlos and he had his choice. There was Sonny's ex-wife Carly Jacks at the top of the list. She'd been married to him four times, and had been extremely loyal to him, sticking by him even after he shot her in the head after she gave birth to their son, Morgan. She didn't even bail when he shot her son, Michael, the one he'd adopted by hanging the biological father AJ Quartermaine on a meat hook to get those legal documents signed and sealed.

There was Sonny's current moll in training, Connie Falconari who was a bit of a nutcase who currently headed Crimson magazine, which was under the umbrella of Derek Wells enterprise. He recoiled at the thought of hooking up with her since she'd been diagnosed with DID and had all of her alters reintegrated by some shrink. Mental issues aside, he just wasn't attracted to the high-strung willowy blonde.

Connie had a cousin named Olivia who was a loudmouth chick from Bensonhurst who had shown up at his office and called him a mook, an Italian term for…well he knew what it meant. She just came off as an idiot shrieking at him, while he had little use for her. Sonny sure knew how to pick his molls. None of which were women Julian felt remotely attracted to even on one of those days in witness protection when he was eager for the comfort of any women to escape is isolated existence.

Ava folded her arms.

"Julian, I did my part. I positioned my daughter Kiki. Since Franco is the twin brother of Jason Morgan and she's his daughter…that makes her an heir. I've been working really hard at this."

Julian drummed his fingers impatiently on his desk.

"You have yet to deliver…"

She cut him to the quick in typical Ava fashion.

"My oh so undisciplined daughter is also marrying Sonny Corinthos' son Morgan. That's only going to help us and to think it was our gambling ring that brought them together…"

Julian had to really wrap his thoughts around that. He'd pretty much written Kiki off as a wild child driven by hormones rather than any intelligence she could have possibly inherited from her mother. But it looked like his sister had been busy carrying out her part of their master plan.

She pointed a manicured finger at him.

"Okay Julian, tell me you will do your part. There are many avenues to pursue all which I'm sure will be pleasurable. Carly, Connie or her cousin Olivia or…."

Julian knit his brow.

"Or what?"

Ava shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sonny's legal eagle, Alexis Davis. She's definitely not your type of course but from a strategic standpoint she could provide plenty of intel on his operations…"

Julian knit his brow. He hadn't even considered whether or not to add Sonny's legal eagle to his list. Carlos had provided the usual exhaustive dossier on her as he had with everyone on Sonny's payroll.

"I don't think so. I think I'll do better if I target one of his molls or his moll in training. Someone who's engaged in pillow talk with him, rather than just worked for him."

Ava pursed her lips.

"Alexis Davis did more than that. They share a child, from a one night stand. Kristina, a somewhat insolent and rebellious teenager who's off to college."

Julian leaned back in his chair, considering that information.

"Carlos included that in his report. Connie told me that her oldest daughter Samantha Morgan made an appointment with her to discuss a possible story. She was very insistent on the phone."

Ava frowned, drumming her nails on his desk.

"I thought you were liquidizing the newspaper…and that fashion rag. Low circulation and anemic ad sales."

He nodded.

"I am but The Press still has a week or so left in circulation and Crimson is good leverage for me to keep Connie inline to do what I want."

Ava arched her brows.

"Ah, dear brother don't you think that you could use that leverage to sweep her off her feet and away from Sonny? He does have his sights on her and that sniveling cousin of hers has eyes for him too."

Julian yawned, bored with tales of Sonny and the throng of weak, histrionic women who surrounded him. Connie who used to go by Kate was crazy to boot. No, he didn't want any complications, he just wanted inside information on how best to exploit Sonny's weaknesses and bring him down. As Ava had reminded him, she'd found her way in even though she'd bungled the ELQ job. He had to do his part just to keep up with her.

"Connie also assured me she's going to bring me a front page story that will change everything."

Ava rolled her eyes.

"She promises a lot but has yet to deliver. She's a waste of space in this office and on the planet."

Julian couldn't argue with that. But he needed her right now and Ava might not know it, but based on the info Connie had passed to him, she needed Connie too.

"I'll use her…for her journalistic skills and I'll set my sights on Carly…since she's the closest to Sonny. I imagine at some point she'll approach me with concerns about you and Morgan…"

Ava recoiled.

"What do you mean about me and Morgan?"

Julian smirked.

"I know there's more going on between you and that insolent spoiled brat than your daughter Kiki would like to know about."

Ava sniffed.

"She wouldn't notice anything. She's spending more time with his brother Michael. I have to put in some time to steer her back on track."

He chuckled, enjoying himself.

"I imagine you will.

He enjoyed pushing his sister's buttons. She reminded him a bit of his other late sister Olivia, sharing some of her traits. Her icy blond hair, and her drive to climb her way to the top on a man's world. There was nothing more masculine than the mafia and Ava hadn't figured out yet any better than Olivia that a woman's role was at home with the kids. Then again, Ava had balls, encased in brass and she could stare down any man who challenged her right to get what she wanted. Something Julian admired, even though he'd never tell her.

"Dear brother I will put our master plan back on track…as long as you do your part. Now Carly is an insipid volatile woman who's relied on men for all of her power, including her share of the Metro Court. She does her best work flat on her back which makes her the perfect choice."

Julian curled his lip. He'd read the report on the oft married Carly and knew he'd have his work cut out for him. Not that he couldn't easily reel her in to give him choice information on his target but he didn't think he'd enjoy it.

Not his type either.

He fiddled through some papers on his desk.

"Look Ava, I'll do my part if you do yours…"

He knew he could handle it, even the between the sheets part. Julian looked at sex as a physical release, a brief escape from the isolation and sometimes, loneliness of the life he'd been forced to lead since he'd agreed to the WSB's version of witness protection. He could work that part of it, if necessary to get what he wanted. Seduction was just one of many tools in his arsenal.

An image flashed in his mind as if in argument to his train of thoughts. The same young woman, who sometimes visited from where she'd taken up residence inside his memories. Long, flowing brown hair, a heart shaped face, laughter that sounded like church bells.

The most beautiful young woman, from another lifetime. The chapter in his life when he'd still been an idealistic man who thought he could bring legitimacy to his family's business and its name. He closed his eyes, to will that image away, he didn't want some phantom from his past intruding now.

Ava tapped her foot impatiently.

"Okay then, I'll continue to ensure that Kiki and Morgan head toward matrimony which will give her…and us an inroad into Sonny's family and you'll work on Carly."

Julian nodded absently, as he was having difficulty shaking the memory of that young woman from his head. She was a sliver of his past before everything had gone wrong.

"And you worry about me screwing up…Dad rest his soul always said you worry too much…"

Julian flinched slightly.

"He said you didn't worry enough…"

Julian casually knocked over the framed photo of Sonny and his latest moll over on the desk, talking about wanting to knock Sonny from the top spot on the food chain of mobster organizations in the North East. He'd been playing dead for two decades now and found it tedious,.

"I haven't had a good fight in ages."

Ava no doubt picked up the wistful tone of his voice. Ava preened.

"It's been a long time since I've seen your smile Julian…"

No doubt that was true, because stripped of his identity, and even his face, he'd been forced to hide behind the persona of Derek Wells, media conglomerate raider for years while he'd been plotting his comeback. He'd been focused on the prize, to the point where he'd ridded himself of any messy romantic entanglements and thank god, unlike Ava he hadn't sired any children that he knew of during his time in exile.

"It reminds me of when you were a much younger man…"

Julian sighed, because there were years of his lie Ava hadn't been privy to, years before they had hooked up when she had approached him to fund one of her upstart galleries. She'd been in trouble back then, her world blown apart when she came to him with her outlandish claims that they shared the same father.

When he thought about being a young man, he thought about his years at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He'd been proud to have been accepted into an Ivy League School. His old man had seemed proud.

And he thought about her again, that young boarding school girl who he'd met up with at McCoy's a bar he occasionally patronized with some of his friends. It had been too long ago.

He rose from his desk.

"Ava I think you should go…We can't be seen together or people might get suspicious…"

She threw him a piercing look and nodded.

"Of course.

As she walked towards the doorway, a woman met her at the entrance. Young, lithe with long dark hair and even darker eyes. Looking at this stranger, Julian knew his day was going to get more complicated.

Ava chuckled as she saw the expression on her brother's face as she knew that too. Really though that was his problem.

She had her own mess to fix.


	2. Chapter 2

Julian looked at the young woman who stood in front of him at the doorway into the office. She was dressed practically, as if for comfort over style in a simple white tee-shirt and dark slacks. Her ebony hair hung loosely around her oval face, her eyes narrowed in on him quickly, even as she stood there taking in the scenery.

She was a very attractive woman with eyes even darker than her hair, and a petite figure. Yet, even so she was invading his space, his office at a very sensitive point of his conversation with Ava as if she belonged there. He would have to remind her otherwise, tell her she was interrupting a meeting…set her straight about the rules to be followed on his turf, which was Derek Wells Enterprises.

They couldn't afford any setbacks in their master plan, which was to take over Sonny's territory that had once belonged to the Jerome family and hopefully soon would again. Ava had shown up brazenly in his office even though he'd warned her to be careful. She was definitely the more impulsive of their duo. Carlos had expressed concern about that side of her even though he'd adored her. Julian always knew that Carlos favored his sister over him because whereas Julian was all business, all the time, Carlos and Ava could cut loose occasionally and just have a good time. Still he felt at times she needed to be more careful….like now when someone walked in on them sharing the same space.

After all, he had just advised his sister that they shouldn't be seen together, so naturally his guard went up. He narrowed his eyes looking at the woman in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?"

She didn't seem at all taken aback by her words as she should be. Her eyes challenged him back.

"I could ask you the same question…"

Holding her ground, even though she didn't own it. Ava glanced sideways at him bemusement in her eyes. She hissed softly.

"Well brother how are you going to handle this?"

He ignored her still focused on the stranger in front of him, and yet she didn't seem totally unfamiliar to him. Something about her seemed familiar…and she hadn't backed down to his attitude. He respected her for that even though he knew he had to deal with her and get her out of there.

He walked towards her.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you're the one who barged into my office."

Sam just looked at him in a very focused way, pointing out that it wasn't his office after all but it belonged to Connie, before walking right past him towards the desk.

"Unless this nameplate is wrong…"

He bristled because technically she was correct, but Connie worked for him. He had her exactly where he wanted her because she was desperate to save Crimson and he made it clear to her that the only way to do that was play ball with him. She was out doing his bidding right now, landing him the front page story which would deliver Ava from her own mess she made when she botched up reining in the ELQ shares. He did get some pleasure out of that because Connie was Sonny's latest moll in training and yet through Crimson he controlled her.

Swaggering towards the young woman, he simply pointed out that he owned the parent company for the Press and Crimson so the entire office belonged to him. To his surprise, the young woman immediately apologized to him. He'd expected more defiance from her, something about her stance told him she seldom backed down from a challenge. Yet here she was acquiescing to him which confused him.

She looked at both him and his sister.

"I'm sorry for interrupting and you're…you're… Ava Jerome right?"

Damn he knew he had to draw attention away from his sister so he cut her off and tried to tell her he was too busy to listen to her.

Rather than backing down as he would have liked, she continued with her sales pitch and then everything began to change. Something about her, he just couldn't turn her away and as it turned out he couldn't say no to her.

An hour later, he was nursing a Scotch from the mini frig next to his desk, running over their conversation in his head. After her apology she had tried to leave but Ava had insisted that she was finished with her business with him…she was just trying to sell him some artwork from her galley. As soon as his sister sashayed out of the room, he'd exhaled in relief, then turned to deal with the young woman clearly on a mission in front of him.

For a brief moment, she had reminded him of someone else years ago. Some young woman who lived on the edge of his dreams. Always remaining out of reach. Someone with similar eyes, her face etched with determination, the same movement of her hands when she talked. He hadn't remembered the topic, he'd been so enraptured by her. He could never really forget her.

The arrival of this young woman now had tugged at an old memory. As she told the story of why she'd wanted to talk to Connie.

"I realize you don't have a lot of time and I don't have a lot of time either. I have to get to the hospital."

He watched her fidgeting while she watched him. His brows arched.

"Hospital?" Let's take this from the top shall we, what can I do for you Ms…."

She softened.

"Morgan, I'm Samantha Morgan…"

He'd frowned slightly. The name was familiar to him. Yes it was, Carlos had presented a dossier on her while they researched Sonny Corinthoes and anyone connected to him. She'd worked as a PI while she'd been married to one of Sonny's employees…an enforcer named Jason who had been legendary in the business and yet perhaps his own arrogance and over confidence had been his ultimate undoing. He'd wound up as fish bait at the bottom of the PC harbor off of Pier 54. She'd had a young son named….Danny.

She had been the daughter of Sonny's attorney, Alexis Davis though the research into their relationship hadn't revealed very much.

She looked at him, clearly with purpose in her eyes.

"And you are…?"

She put out her hand and he clasped it, noticing her strong grip.

"I'm Derek Wells….", he said before becoming all about business. She gave him her sales pitch, explaining that her son had been diagnosed with leukemia and been given chemotherapy which had failed to cure him.

Her only option for her son was a bone marrow transplant. That's where he came in, she needed his newspaper to publish a story about a bone marrow drive being put on by her younger sister, Molly and someone named Rafe. The latter was unfamiliar to him but Carlos' research had revealed that Molly was Sam's sister and her father was some borderline psychotic named Ric Lansing. Ric had some obsessive need for approval from his older half-brother and Julian knew there might be an occasion to exploit that to get what he wanted.

What his boss wanted. But now he had to deal with the woman in front of him.

She'd presented her story simply, though her voice was etched with emotion, that she seemed unwilling to surrender to…perhaps like him she didn't like showing any weaknesses.

"Listen Mr. Wells if we don't find a match he could die…"

Those words reverberated in his mind over and over again, even hours after she had left his office. He had asked her all the right questions too, about the bone marrow registry about testing her relatives.

She'd looked down at her hands and mentioned that they tested a relative who couldn't donate. He leaned towards her from where he sat behind his desk, listening to her narrative.

"There's my father…I don't even know who he is…In fact I don't even know who he is…"

He frowned, knowing from how her body tensed and she bit her lip that this wasn't an easy admission for her to make to a stranger. Yet he knew she swallowed back any discomfort because she had to do it.

"You don't know who your father is…"

He saw some emotion flash on her face briefly, her posture shifted. He tried to lighten the tension in the room.

"I suppose that could be liberating in some cases…"

After all, what he'd been through with his own now deceased father, Victor Jerome. The man who had never approved of him, who had tried to keep him out of the business, favoring his older brother over him. The man he'd spent his entire life trying to impress before he'd choked to death on a necklace due to some obsession with some flighty twit named Lucy Coe. It'd all been a wasted effort but it took him decades to realize that truth. While he'd been dead to most of the world.

The man he wanted to notice him now in death didn't matter, as the son outdid the father as the mafia kingpin reclaiming the old turf.

Sam hadn't seem impressed with his comments. Her brows knit, her hands clasped as she said that in her case, she'd give anything to find her biological family.

"This isn't exactly front page news…."

He didn't want her to get her hopes up. Publishing newspapers was a dollars and cents style business and truthfully, the previous owner of the Press that couldn't be named had left it in poor financial shape.

He was trying to be realistic as a businessman who had inherited a losing proposition. She hadn't liked that at all.

"It's not like a man removing a pencil from his head after 15 years I get that…you'd only be saving a little boy's life…"

All while she had walked away from him, dismissing him while he tried to rationalize his decision. His words of argument seeming weak and ineffective hours later.

"You're trying to sell papers and I'm trying to save my son…."

The desperation in her voice, reined in by her determination….it had caught his attention even as he'd tried to give her the marketing line. About needing to get good numbers, which would generate enough advertising revenue to just about break even. After all, print publishing wasn't exactly thriving in this day and age, not with the internet market looming.

She had charged him then, her eyes afire.

"Good numbers…Do you have children?"

That had cut him to the core, as it always did. Children? Where in his life living apart from the real world had he been able to entertain such thoughts? Family was an alien concept because his life didn't allow it. He'd been given orders to follow and in order to put all his focus in that he couldn't afford any complications or messiness in his life. A complicated romantic relationship, a family of his own, luxuries he couldn't ever afford.

He raised his hand to challenge her but she hadn't cared. She was all about saving her little boy no matter what.

"You have any idea what it's like to hold his little hand in yours? Feel his head nestled up against your chest? If you had a child of your own you would know what I was talking about…"`

Her words had stayed with him even as they'd brokered a deal where if she sent him the pertinent information on the bone marrow drive for her son, he would publish it on the front page of his fading newspaper.

Even her apologies hadn't changed his resolve. He would do that for her…well at least until Connie reported back to him on the progress of her story about the Quartermaines. But that had been a long shot…

He'd told Sam he was planning to shut down the newspaper anyway so he could afford to run the story.

Her response to that had been as if he'd just saved her life…she'd been so grateful to him that he almost felt bad that he was still waiting to hear back from Connie on the story she had promised him which would shift the balance of power in one of the town's most significant dynasties.

Yet Sam had thanked him so profusely when he'd promised to run the story of the donor drive on the front page of the paper…he felt a twinge of guilt as he'd watched her leave the office. He'd been checking his phone for messages from Connie on the progress of her investigative reporting. That promise that he made to Sam had some strings attached and he was awaiting the news that would deliver him an even better front page story.

He heard footsteps approaching his office…well Connie's office and he smiled, knowing that his ship had just sailed in when it came to the next step of the master plan.

Something tugged inside of him, perhaps at his conscience if he even had such a thing. The sight of the young woman clasping the sheet he'd given her in her hands as if it were a life line, or a life extension while profusely thanking him. She'd acted as if one single man, a stranger with an agenda she knew nothing about, could save her son's life.

But he knew better. He had come back to Pt. Charles after all these years for a reason. He'd risen from the dead to accomplish a mission, one that even he wasn't the master planner. He'd been given his instructions and had followed them, to a letter. Minus Ava's latest failure to acquire those crucial ELQ shares.

The lithe blond walked into her own office, a satchel clasped in her hand to face him. He leaned back in his seat to await her report.

Sam went immediately back to the hospital after she had accomplished her mission. She hadn't talked to Connie but to the CEO and publisher himself and he had agreed to publish a story about the bone marrow drive on the front page of tomorrow's edition.

Her whole body had relaxed as she left his office. She hadn't been aware of how much she'd tensed up, how few breaths she'd taken as she awaited his response to her desperate pitch.

As she got off the elevator she ran into a familiar face, that of her mother who had been watching over the progress of her son while she'd been away. Alexis had felt tremendous guilt when she'd finally told Sam the story about her own conception…punctuated by the revelation that it had been some anonymous drunken one night stand. Sam had believed for a long time that her mother's reticence on that particularly backstory hinted at some darker and sinister family secrets. But the story her mother told hadn't been the one she'd expected.

"So how'd it go? Is Connie going to run the story?"

Sam shook her head, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Derek Wells will…and on the front page…"

Alexis had looked excited too. It'd been a long couple of months for them, first struggling to accept that Danny had a potentially lethal illness and then frantically trying to find him a bone marrow match.

She frowned.

"Who's Derek Wells?"  
Sam shrugged slightly.

"I don't know but apparently he owns the paper now."

Alexis felt relieved.

"I don't know the man but he's a life saver…."

Then Sam had inquired about Alexis's session with Kevin, about how well it'd gone. Alexis looked back at her daughter and drew a deep breath.

"Well I didn't remember much until I was hypnotized but I remembered his first name. It was Julian…"

Sam didn't know how to respond. It wasn't a lot of information to go on in terms of finding him. Her background as a PI had told her that but it was a start…and she knew it hadn't been easy on her mother. She looked down at her hands.

"Look I know….it couldn't have been easy and I wouldn't have asked if…"

Alexis held up her hand.

"I would do anything to save my grandson's life…to save any member of my family. I just don't know if this is really going to help track him down…"

Sam hugged her mother.

"Even if it doesn't I'm grateful that you did this for Danny…and for me…"

Alexis tried to wave her off.

"I couldn't do anything else…and it's a start. Kevin did say I might remember more about that night when I need to…but as for now, I think I'm going to head on over to a couple places to spread the word on the drive before I head on home."

Sam nodded slightly.

"I would too…but my son needs me here now…"

Alexis smiled.

"I know and that's why I'm more than willing to do it. I might head on over to Floating Rib to see if there's a crowd of prospective donors there…and Molly and Rafe will be at the street festival tomorrow handing out fliers."

Sam sighed deeply.

"I'm just hoping someone somewhere even if they're not a blood relative will be a match. Si…Dr. Clay said we need to find someone soon…to be able to save him…"

Alexis saw the worry etched in her daughter's face and wanted to erase it.

"Look Sam, if Derek Wells runs the article on the front page tomorrow, it can literally mean the difference between finding a donor or not…and I plan to hit a couple spots including the Floating Rib tonight for donors. Mac said he'd help me get the word out."

Sam smiled.

"I'm grateful if he's decided to help but this article might make or break the donor drive that Molly and Rafe have set up at GH."

Alexis knew that but she also knew to keep all the bases covered. She was due for some relaxation via Chardonnay or a Scotch on the Rocks. She would do her part to get the word out on the donor drive…since she had pretty much hit a dead end with figuring out the identity of Sam's father.

Yeah, the first name of Julian was a start but they were running out of time and it seemed unlikely they'd find her father in time…no she had to make it up to her daughter in other ways….

Julian typed his last email and sent it before putting his computer to sleep until the following morning. The words that Samantha Morgan had said during their meeting refused to leave him. Connie had told him that she had the goods on the ELQ story that would remove Ava's butt from a sling and save them. So despite Ava's shortcomings, Julian had all his ducks in a row anyway.

Time to take off from work and go relax at an old haunt like the Floating Rib…funny since that moniker had been associated with a five star sit down restaurant owned by the Quartermaines but now…it was a roadhouse owned by a Mac Scorpio, brother of the man who'd been his babysitter when he'd been in witness protection.

He picked up his wallet and his jacket and left his office hoping to spend an evening relaxing with some good brew and hopefully leave with an attractive woman on his arm to take back to his suite at the Metro Court for some unwinding and a good time. Surely even the Rib would have at least one attractive and accommodating woman who'd leave on his arm, no questions or strings attached.

Just the thought of that put a string in his step as he headed to his car.


	3. Chapter 3

Julian pulled his car into the parking lot of the Floating Rib, a roadhouse located on the edge of the marina. From there, it was only a hop, skip and a jump to Pier 54 where he already knew the shadier characters of Pt. Charles held clandestine meetings and occasionally brought an underperforming employee down there for a much needed lesson in motivation.

Of course occasionally, employee contracts were terminated there as well, for other types of on the job transgressions. His profession had a lousy retirement plan. As he had passed the walkway leading to the infamous pier, he thought of one particular employee of his that might need some reminding.

An old bookkeeper of his father's named Vince. But for now, he was keeping the holdout from the old Jerome family business under surveillance via his lieutenant Carlos Rivera.

Ava had been much more eager to use Vince as an example to the others in their ranks if he indeed had proven to be a liability but Julian believed that employee loyalty had to go both ways and he wasn't willing to bring Vince to the pier unless he'd proven himself disloyal.

The sun had set over the horizon, the sky turning from a shade of brilliant amber to a rosy pink to a shade of royal violet. Lights sparkled bobbing in the open ocean, from boats that were tethered to the sea overnight.

His mood was buoyant. He'd just had a conversation with Connie that she'd indeed delivered on her promise that she'd uncovered an explosive development in the internal power struggle over ELQ. Ava's plan to use her daughter's paternity to infiltrate the company had blown up in her face. She was riding on her claim that her daughter Kiki was sired by Franco, the not so reformed serial rapist and killer who'd used his crimes as some bizarre type of artistic expression. He'd wanted Ava to cut this psycho loose years ago but she'd refused to do so claiming he was her daughter's father.

Franco's DNA in her daughter's cells gave her, the both of them an inside path to staking a claim in ELQ because shockingly, it turned out that Franco was an identical twin to the late Jason Morgan nee Quartermaine. Irony at its best had revealed that the two men who despised each other in real life had shared the womb of Alan Quartermaine's mistress Susan Moore.

Perhaps it was a blessing that Jason had been shot to death and kicked into the harbor before he learned that unpleasant truth.

Not that Julian gave a damn. Franco, Kiki, and even Ava were all a means to an end. He needed to get his hands on ELQ to liquidate and to use as a means to launder an obscene amount of ill-gotten funds since the publishing industry was too busy becoming obsolete to serve his needs.

And more importantly those of his boss.

Anyway, Ava had failed dismally in her plan and needed a bailout and she was about to get it from the bombshell that Connie had delivered to him. Evidence that would put Kiki's paternity into doubt.

Not that he had ever believed that insolent wild child had ever been Franco's kid, hell he had enough trouble believing that any Jerome alive or dead had spawned her.

Connie's story of course would be front page news for the PC Press. Yeah he wanted to kill the dying newspaper that was more useful to wrap fish at the Marina's open markets or line a bird cage but no reason why it couldn't go out with a bang. After she'd delivered the goods in the form of her expose, he made some necessary changes and sent it to printing. Connie might bust a cap at him later for going over her head with it but all he had to do was dangle the future of her precious if struggling fashion rag in front of her and she'd cave quickly.

Connie.

Sonny's current moll in training and on his short list of women to charm and woo in between the sheets if necessary to get any edge on the mobster they'd thrown their lot in without any real consideration. Willowy blondes weren't his thing but he'd make it work if he had to, he'd been given his orders. He needed to get close enough to Sonny's organization to get serious intel even if it was through pillow talk.

As he told Ava, he didn't care. He had an arsenal filled with tools that had been 20 years of careful planning and sacrifice in the making and sex was just one of the more pleasant options.

He chose his parking place at the Floating Rib carefully, though the lot was almost empty. His mind remembered stories of when the Floating Rib had been an elegant, pricy five-star restaurant owned by the now deceased Edward Quartermaine. Now it was some rundown dive not far away from Pier 54. He'd read about how it'd once been named Jake's but then the name had changed and former WSB agent and PCPD Commissioner Mac Scorpio now owned it.

Scorpio.

A name he despised but he had nothing against Mac. It was his older brother Robert that he despised, but Robert was currently indisposed halfway around the world with no one to care what happened to him. Like his boss said, the timing had been perfect.

Getting out of his car, Julian felt content, almost giddy. Connie hadn't been a problem for a change, his sister was falling into line and he had a lot to celebrate.

He'd go in and relax with a couple beers and find a pretty thing preferably not blonde to take back to his suite for a night with no strings attached.

A half-life lived as Derek Wells had taught him a thing or two.

With that plan, he walked towards the Floating Rib.

Alexis had never felt so helpless in her entire life.

She'd spent the entire day running around town to every educational institution, community center, shopping mall, public park she could think of to get the world out to a city of 150,000 potential bone marrow donors to get tested to see if they could save a little boy's life.

Her grandson Danny Morgan, son of her eldest Sam and her late husband former enforcer for one Sonny Corinthoes who despite coming from such robust lineage needed a stranger to save his life.

Yeah it had to be a stranger because she had utterly failed in securing a potential bone marrow donor from Danny's biological family. Sure everyone had been tested from the Davises to the few remaining Cassadines (who probably caused Danny's cancer) to the Qs like Monica, Ned, Brook Lyn, Dillion and Tracy.

God even Franco had submitted his twisted DNA for testing after she strong armed her away from her now ex-boyfriend Shawn and her second baby daddy Sonny. Both men had looked at her if she were crazy but crazy doesn't even begin to describe a mother who loathed watching her daughter's heart be crushed over and over and had no intention of watching the fates take another member of her family.

Even with all that, she knew she'd failed her daughter in the worst way possible. There was that glaring omission from Danny's biological family members being tested.

That family member was some cute boy in a leather jacket with hair that hung over his eyes. A boy who no doubt had grown into a man who might be out there somewhere. But as she explained to Sam, she'd only spent a few hours with him and after he'd taken her virginity and left her with a baby, they'd parted ways.

Kevin had helped her remember a large piece of a puzzle with so many pieces missing. That his first name had been Julian.

It hadn't been enough. She'd hoped that Kevin's gentle probing could have unlocked the suppressed memories inside her to lead her to the path of Sam's father the faceless man who of course could then swoop in and save his grandson's life.

Yeah right. She'd walked away from Kevin's therapy couch and headed to the Floating Rib. Not that she really thought she'd be able to recruit many potential donors now not until they were properly liquored up first…but she needed some time away from this relentless search for a needle in many haystacks, combating the adversary of time that so far was winning.

She knew she'd find a friendly face in Mac, the man she'd so wanted to hook up with, fall in love with and maybe if she didn't find eternal love or happiness, she'd find other things like peace and stability.

It had failed like any attempt she'd made to build a life with any man in her life, good or bad. She'd pretty much given up at this point.

All she wanted to do was to save her grandson and so far she'd failed. Sam hadn't pressed her on her inability to remember the man who'd sired her eldest daughter but that didn't mean she wasn't disappointed.

Alexis understood how desperate Sam must feel right now, so much so she'd make a deal with the devil to save her little boy. Alexis had been there with Kristina and she'd made that deal herself.

Damn she felt tired right now. Even her clothes felt tired. That red jacket with linebacker style shoulder paths that she loathed. All because she'd had to appear in court in the morning for a hearing on a medical malpractice case. She'd tabled most of her caseload to focus on her daughter and grandson but not all of them.

All she wanted to do was sit by the bar and have Mac pour her not her usual, which was Chardonnay wine but something harder. Vodka on the rocks or maybe Scotch. She needed something harder than wine because she had so many emotions swirling around her none of which were useful…all which needed to be numbed. If only for a little while.

As she walked into the Floating Rib, she did remember one piece of good news in the midst of too much that was not. That the PC Press was going to do a front page story above the fold about the bone marrow drive that hoped to be able to find enough marrow to save a little boy's life.

She walked in the eatery where most every table was occupied with people, including couples sitting back and drinking beer and enjoying Mac's famous barbeque ribs and buffalo wings. They all looked so happy and carefree. She hated them at first and then pragmatism which developed over a lifetime of disappointment and heartbreak took over.

Any one of them could harbor within themselves the marrow to save Danny's life.

Mac greeted her dressed in his more relaxed white tee-shirt and worn jeans. He greeted her even while bringing some glasses from the few empty tables. She smiled at him, settling down in her favorite seat by the bar.

"Hey Alexis what can I get you," he said in that easy going way of his, "Hey I just got in a really nice Chardonnay."

She sighed knowing that just wasn't going to do it for her tonight. So she interrupted his greeting.

"Scotch on the rocks…"

He immediately filled her request. She rubbed her forehead, feeling the tension of not just one day but weeks catching up to her.

"It's been that kind of day," she said almost apologetically.

Mac arched his brows.

"Really…. Danny…"

But he poured Alexis her much needed Scotch anyway. She shook her head.

"He's not good…He's not good at all and…it's my fault."

She struggled with those last words but she couldn't deny it. She had let down her daughter and grandson just when they had needed her most. She sipped her scotch hoping it would smooth the edges in the emotions inside her right now. At least for a little while before she had to stifle them inside of her and find another way to come through for her grandson.

Mac responded with his usual reasonableness.

"You can't blame yourself…"

Alexis just wasn't buying it today.

"That's where you're wrong Mac. There could be a match out there. There could be a whole slew of matches. Sam's father could have a whole big family out there and there could all be matches."

That's how she'd envisioned it. That if she could only find Sam's biological father, he'd be a match, any children, siblings he had would of course be matches too. The only roadblock to that happy outcome was her own memory that betrayed her, not for the first time.

Mac of course took the rational approach.

"Oh come on you don't know that…"

Oh but she did. That's how she'd scripted it inside her head in between discussions with Danny's doctor and trips to the nearest designer coffee place to caffeinate her daughter during that marathon vigil.

All it did was remind her of how helpless she felt right now, how useless.

"That's precisely the point. I don't know anything about Sam's father. I don't know anything and I sure as hell don't know where I'm going to find him…"

She asked Mac to refill her Scotch. Mac leaned closer to her much like he always had when he had to interrogate her at the police station when he'd been its commissioner. She braced herself involuntarily.

"You don't remember anything about Sam's father…"

Alexis felt that helplessness return, that feeling that her own memories were holding her captive when she most needed to remember. Yeah Kevin hypnotizing had helped her shake out a few more details that fleshed out the few hours she'd spent with Sam's father but…the only thing she held onto that kept her hopeful was that Kevin had told her that it was possible she'd remember more at the time it was most important for her to do so. She hoped for that…if it'd save Danny. But for now she felt frustrated.

"Nothing…Nothing…except that I was completely drunk and I lost my virginity on the backseat of his car…Classy."

There she'd laid it bare in front of her close friend and almost lover Mac, then she waited for him to judge her.

But Mac was strictly in the mode he felt most comfortable with which was an investigator whether with the WSB or the PCPD.

"Well maybe he was wearing a leather jacket… with his name on it."

Alexis jumped in right away.

"Yeah now it's all coming back to me. His name is Lacrosse…"

She hadn't meant to be flippant but she'd remembered the young good looking man in the leather jacket who'd been kind to her. She just didn't understand why so much of it was a blur to her…yeah she'd drank several Tom Collins to fit in with the atmosphere of McCoy's bar but still… she hated that so much of that night that she'd created her daughter with some random guy in a bar remained a blank.

She needed to remember more so she could find him…and he could save her grandson.

Max recoiled slightly and she immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry Mac…I'm just so angry and I'm…embarrassed…but angry at me…"

Mac softened.

"For what…for being 16 and stupid? Who wasn't at that age?"

She appreciated what he was trying to do but she hated herself anyway. All she wanted to do was to save Danny's life and to spare her daughter Sam any more pain…after seeing how much she'd suffered after Jason had died. Sam deserved happiness and a good life with the family she had left. She didn't deserve to lose her only child because her own mother's own stupid mistakes.

"It's much worse than that and you know it…. I got hypnotized today…by Kevin."

"That's great then you went to the best…If anyone can help you remember he can."

She sighed, feeling even more frustrated.

"He did help…it wasn't much but I…I remembered his first name. It was Julian…."

Julian had walked into the Floating Rib feeling almost as if he'd been dropped out of the sky into some dive that was remotely familiar to him…yet had changed so much. Still he walked to a table in the far corner that atracted him and sat down, ordering a beer to start with. He'd down a few and then look around the bar and decided which woman he wanted to take back to his suite at the MC. God after the day he had, dealing with Ava and two of Sonny's molls in training, his incompetent if knocked up intern Maxie…he thought her name was…and then that young woman who wanted him to do a story on her son's bone marrow drive.

Oh damn he'd promised her front page coverage…and now…he had to reserve that space for Connie's bombshell on the Quartermaines and ELQ. Oh well, that was the cost of doing business and this Samantha Morgan…would have to deal. After all there was space for the feature on her son on the back page…which was almost as good. But what did anyone expect…he'd inherited a newspaper that was dying and a fashion magazine that was a joke. Seriously was he expected to resurrect both? He was strictly there to launder money from his boss through a legit business and Derek Wells Media would fit the bill until it was all dried up.

He couldn't wait to share the latest development with Ava. Yeah she'd be pissed off at him for outing intimate details about Kiki but it was necessary for their business and surely Ava would understand that.

The waitress brought him his beer and he sipped it, enjoying it after a most memorable first day in his formal haunt. He checked out the women in the bar. Most of whom were coupled with men. But several sat sipping drinks alone…even a couple blondes, brunettes. Surely if he walked up to one of them and offered to buy them a drink…or two then he'd have his date for the night. That's how he'd lived for 20 years under his new name, stripped of his family, his past, even his looks. That's how he survived. There was a redhead sitting in the corner near the pool table who looked promising and then…he suddenly forgot all about her.

He saw the woman sitting at the bar talking with the bartender and he froze. The way she'd slipped her dark hair off her shoulders, the way she moved her hands when engaged in obviously some lively conversation with the bartender who she obviously knew quite well. The way she…she was very good looking but at the same time, there was something familiar about her too, something that tugged someplace deep inside of him he'd forgotten existed. He felt drawn to her but surely they'd never met. Maybe she'd be open to his well-practiced flirtations and would be willing to head back to his suite.

She was really very beautiful. Not his type but still…he couldn't keep his eyes off of her even as he sensed her conversation with the bartender was impassioned.

First things first, he had to deal with his sister and the fact that she'd not been forthcoming with him about everything. He got her voicemail on his cell phone.

"Hey sis it's me, it's Julian. Call me as soon as you get this. I just located tomorrow's headline. It looks like you've been holding out on me. Seems like we have a lot to discuss."

And they did, he was pissed off with her for not being honest with him…that it took using Connie to suss the truth out to prevent their entire plan from going up in flames.

He clicked off his phone and happily returned to watching the woman in front of him while sipping his beer. All the time figuring out the script that he'd used when he finally decided to approach her.

Alexis sighed over her second round of Scotch.

"There must be a thousand Julians in New Hampshire and I don't even know if he lives there. He could have just been passing through town."

She waved her hand at Mac.

"It doesn't matter at this point…"

He didn't leave her off the hook.

"From the way you're acting it matters quite a lot."

Alexis resisted.

"If Sam's father is a match and we're not saying that he is, we're never going to find this guy in time…."

At that moment, Alexis felt a tap on her arm and she turned around to face a man who looked slightly older than her, dressed in business attire. She noticed that his clothing molded closely to an athletically toned body. She wasn't blind after all. He almost looked apologetic.

"Sorry for interrupting…I just feel like I know you from somewhere…"

She just looked at him, wondering why during the time when her focus was on saving her grandson some random guy decided to hit on her.

That had been Julian's plans, to walk up to her and strike a conversation with her and then let it play out. But…she really did seem familiar to him…it wasn't just a pickup line.

Alexis studied the lines in his face, his strong jaw, his inquisitive eyes but nothing registered with her as being familiar. Not that she didn't know a pick up line when she heard one. She almost rolled her eyes but smiled tactfully instead.

"Why I don't think we've met."

"Really…I swear you just look so familiar to me…"

She studied his face carefully but nothing she saw registered to her…unless they'd met in passing when she'd been working with Stefan in NYC….it had to be a pickup line and she really had no time for that right now. Her focus was on Sam and Danny right now.

"Do you mind if I ask you what your name is?"

She could play this game too as long as it didn't go anywhere. But Mac stepped between them.

"Seriously…what are you going to ask her next, her sign?"

She appreciated his protectiveness but really she had to deal with this guy who was likely just trying to hook up with her. She would quickly put him in his place.

"Mac…Alexis…Alexis Davis."

His expression changed quickly.

"Alexis Davis…I…I'm sorry I'm Derek Wells…"

He extended his hand as if she were supposed to shake it. That's when she knew for sure he was fishing for some willing female to take back to wherever he was hanging his clothes for a night without entanglements.

The last thing she needed or wanted right now…but then again Derek Wells and she remembered her earlier conversation with Sam. That's when she knew she had to do what she needed to do for Danny even if it meant playing nice with Derek.

She extended her hand and he took it willingly.

"You're the man who's printing the story for the donor drive for Danny Morgan…"

Yes, he was the man who Sam had assured her would put out the word for them so that maybe they could save Danny's life…

"Oh right, right that's where I know you from. You look like Ms. Morgan you got to be her sister."

Mac rolled his eyes dramatically but Alexis kept her attention focused on Derek.

"I'm her mother…actually…"

She knew he was flirting with her but she knew she had to keep her focus on him as a newspaper publisher putting the world out there to bring donors including that one person who could make all the difference.

Julian smiled.

"How is that possible…did you have her when you were like 12?"

He just couldn't imagine that this gorgeous woman in front of him could have an adult daughter. She didn't flinch.

"16…"

Julian winced. Not knowing she'd take his come-on tactic literally but her response just intrigued him all the more. So she'd had a daughter at the age of 16 but didn't seem ashamed of it. He felt suddenly he had overstepped his bounds. A first for him really.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean too…"

She didn't let him finish.

"It's okay…okay you get to say whatever you want. You get a free pass to say anything you want because I'm so grateful to you for running that story about Danny's donor drive and on the front page no less…"

He reveled in her words and then suddenly remembered. Danny's story wouldn't be on the front page because that's where the latest blockbuster reveal about ELQ would be instead. Right now, the issues were being printed for delivery tomorrow at dawn…. but the way Alexis looked at him right now…for a moment he wished he could take it all back which made no sense…he had his job to do and he understood that.

Alexis looked so grateful at him right now like he was a hero to her for trying to save her grandson and that was the greatest feeling in the whole wide world but….

"Yeah about that…the story's been bumped…"

Her face fell then and just like that he wanted so much to take his words back for reasons he didn't even understand. He stifled those emotions back and pushed forward. He had his job to do after all and it was two decades in the making.

The look on Alexis' face just then nearly broke him. He hadn't expected that, not at all let alone why it should even matter to him. Then her face hardened as she stared at him as she leaned against the bar.

"You're going to have to be more specific. What do you mean you bumped the story?"

He tried to be tactful and follow his script. Damn the woman in front of him for making that suddenly difficult.

"Well in the time since I met with your daughter… a story has broken which is going to take precedence…it's a big story…"

Alexis' eyes widened.

"A big story…bigger than saving a little boy's life…"

He couldn't even look her in the eye so he glanced sideways as he struggled to remember the lines he'd been given to recite. They just didn't mean much to him at the moment.

"There's a scandal at ELQ…now that's front page news."

She looked at him as if she'd bite his head off and he knew then that his research on the woman in front of him had underscored her tenacity when it came to her family. He remembered what Ava said and realized he could never use her that way…even though he was most definitely attracted to her for reasons he couldn't define….in the meantime he had to deal with this crisis.

"ELQ…are you serious? There's a scandal at ELQ. There's a scandal at ELQ every other week. It's in the paper more than the crosswords…"

Alexis couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sam had come to her with the great news that the PC Press was going to do this front page story and now…its publisher of one day Derek Wells was reengaging.

The nerve of him bumping a story that might save her grandson's life in favor of the latest flavor of the month when it came to Quartermaine scandals.

"This is a major financial news situation. It's a family divided within itself. I've got to run that."

She didn't care a whit.

"Nobody cares. You want to know what people care about. They care about a little boy who has cancer and a mother who is suffering…See now you've given my daughter false hope and wow, that is really cruel."

Her words stung him. It's not like he was totally unfamiliar with her tireless fight to find a bone marrow for her grandson. Ava had told him about how Alexis had dragged that sociopathic lowlife Franco to GH after he'd been beaten nearly to death by Sonny and his henchman and stood guard over him just to make sure his marrow had been tested. After all if he were Jason's identical twin, he was a good bet for a match. Although Ava had snickered at Alexis' actions, he had found himself admiring them. He couldn't argue against a mother's tireless effort to try to save her daughter's child. If he'd had family of his own…. he'd want someone like Alexis in that family's corner. Still he had a job to do and not by his own choice…and now he had a beautiful vibrant but very indignant woman in front of him challenging his decisions.

"Ms. Davis please I'm still going to run the story. It's just not going to be on the front page…"

He felt himself regretting his choice when he saw her face, he knew he was up against a matriarch fiercely protective of her family…and for a moment he wished he'd had that choice. He tried to express that sincerity in his response but of course the woman in front of him wasn't biting.

"Where…where's it going to be then? Between the horoscopes and the Sudoku's…because you do know the donor drive is meaningless if the word doesn't get out…"

Mac being his oh so protective self stepped between the two of them and she realized that she might have overstepped her bounds. After all Derek Wells was a stranger…with a business to run.

"Hey Alexis take it easy. We'll find another way…"

Julian bristled, hating that Mac was standing in for Alexis to protect her against him. He didn't want to be in that position but he'd had his orders. But then he saw the look on Alexis' face and he softened immediately.

"Hey look I'm sorry"

Alexis glanced at Mac and then back at Julian.

"Okay so am I. I'm sorry. I had no business unloading on you and I certainly am in no position to tell you how…how to run your business. I just should have realized it's not realistic for me to think that one man could save my grandson's life…"

Julian realized she was trying even though it was difficult for her to do so, to spare his feelings…only suddenly he didn't want to be spared. He saw the love for her grandson in her eyes, heard the desperation to save him in her voice. He knew instantly she was a mother who would do whatever was absolutely necessary or required of her to save the life of a member of her family. Her commitment to that floored him and suddenly he didn't want to be the force standing in her way. And yet…he was. He didn't know how to respond so he stuck to his original plan.

"Can I at least buy you your next drink?"

Alexis didn't look impressed.

"No that won't be necessary…."

Then this phone rang and the Caller ID told him it was Connie. No doubt to voice her concern with the publication of her expose on the Quartermaines. Really he was tiring of her antics. Bad enough he inherited a fashion rag with a crazy as a loon editor in chief.

He looked at Alexis apologetically.

"Please excuse me…"

He didn't appreciate being dragged away from his conversation with Alexis to deal with Connie's paranoia. Sure enough she was upset with his decision to run the story without her approval. He quickly reminded her of the stakes, that if she wanted to save her rag, she would have to play ball. When she started to protest, he ended the phone call. She had served her purpose after all and despite her efforts, Crimson would be a tax write-off in a matter of months.

And if Ava thought he was seriously going to seduce Sonny's battiest molls to gather intel, she was sadly mistaken. Carly was the obvious choice though he didn't relish that task.

He walked back to Alexis and Matt putting his phone in his jacket.

"Sorry about that. It was a call from an excitable employee…"

Alexis still didn't look impressed. He realized she wouldn't be leaving the Floating Rib with him tonight and no other woman there would be leaving with him either.

Mac stepped between him and Alexis. That didn't bother him much. Alexis deserved someone who would be protective of her…he just wished she didn't view him as someone to be protected from…

"Look buddy we're about to close…"

"Very well," Julian said pulling out some twenties out of his wallet, "for the both of us. I insist."

Alexis simply looked at him.

"It's your money…"

He looked at her and realizing he'd overstayed his presence he turned to leave. He hadn't planned to head back to his suite at the MC alone on his first night back in PC but…none of the other women there appealed to him. The only woman he really wanted had vetoed his advances…not that he could blame her. She needed a hero to swoop n and save her grandson's life…and even though he wanted it to be him, it just wasn't in the cards.

A shame though in a fleeting glance, he knew between the sheets he'd more than met his match. For the first time he also wondered if one night between them would be enough. Better not to go there…and she'd given him a convenient out. But he couldn't leave without saying something.

"For what it's worth I'm pulling for Danny…moving the story it's business…"

Even though he knew his words didn't mean much. She just glanced at him, looking defeated for the first time that night.

"Of course…"

He walked away though he didn't want to, he just knew he overstayed his welcome. His agenda superseded everything else as always. Even though at that moment he wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear, then swoop her in his arms back to the MC…though the way she looked at him now…he suddenly wanted to crawl out of there.

Alexis nursed her third Scotch before heading on out to rejoin Sam at GH where she stood vigil over her gravely ill son. Mac stayed with her, being there as he'd always been before.

"Lashing out at total strangers…I used to be gracious sometimes…"

Julian stood and watched this vibrant woman whose heart he had unwittingly broken, because his mission had been much more important. Though right now watching her with the bar tender he couldn't remember one reason why.

Not to mention while watching her gesticulate her obvious frustration at Mac while sitting on the bar stool, he had been struck with the most intense form of déjà vu.

As if in that moment he had known her…as impossible as that sounded. That just made him despise his actions all the more.

He knew he'd be spending that night in his suite alone but he'd be thinking about the woman he almost remembered the entire time.


End file.
